Back-to-Back Champions: Canterbury Baseball Clinches WNEPBL Title in Gritty Final

Canterbury’s Varsity Baseball Team returned to the field this season with confidence, determination, and a clear-eyed goal: to bring home the hardware...again. On May 17, months of practice, training, and hard-won victories paid off when the boys faced Cheshire Academy and secured the Western New England Prep Baseball League (WNEPBL) Championship for the second year in a row.

Entering the championship game at 18–2, the final match was between the Saints and the Cats, a team that had only been defeated once in the entire season… by the Saints. The rematch was truly a meeting of WNEPBL’s best. 

Canterbury jumped out to an early 3–0 lead, but Cheshire rallied, at one point tying the game. Though the Cats never took the lead, they kept the Saints on their toes throughout every inning. At the bottom of the seventh, the score was 7–5, and Cheshire was at bat. With two players on and mounting tension, pitcher Patrick Weaving ’26 struck out the last batter to secure the victory and clinch Canterbury’s second consecutive championship.

“I didn’t even have a thought; I just felt pure excitement,” says Mason Kuchinski ’26. “I just wanted to get going to the circle with all the boys, celebrate. It was just such a surreal feeling to be winning two championships back to back.”

“When that last out is made, it’s a feeling almost like relief,” says Head Coach Todd Mathewson. “You finally take a deep breath and all the emotions that come with it: relief, joy, excitement. It was just awesome. I’m just really proud of the boys. After winning it last year, they kept their foot on the gas and continued to push through.”

But just as meaningful as the win itself is the bond the team formed over the years: 14 of Coach Mathewson’s players are Sixth Form students, including many diehards, and some have been playing together for four years. Mason describes Saints Varsity Baseball as a family.

“We just had such a good brotherhood on this team; we all love each other,” he says. “I wouldn’t have done it with anybody else.”

Many of the graduating players have committed to playing baseball in college, and while they may not be playing on the same team, we have no doubt that they’ll bring their hilltop experiences with them wherever they go.

Congratulations, gentlemen!